Lifestyle Retail Franchise

Ed Hardy , Christian Audigier India Master Franchise Wadhawan Lifestyle Expand India Presence

2010-07-29T02:14:00.000-07:00

Wadhawan Lifestyle Retail (WLRPL) that brought in cult brands like Ed Hardy, and Christian Audigier to India in 2007 has tied up with Shoppers Stop for the first shop-in-shop at Juhu, Mumbai. With a vision to make high-end global brands accessible to Indian consumers, WLRPL is a master franchise to open and operate exclusive stores and shop-in-shops across India for brands, Ed Hardy and Christian Audigier. “The initiative is to primarily license global premium brands into India along with incubating original brands in new categories,” opines Abhinav Zutshi, Business Head-International Brands, Wadhawan Lifestyle Retail.

Ed Hardy – a high-end fashion line resulted from the partnership of the legendary French fashion designer, Christian Audigier with Don Ed Hardy in 2004. Another signature line introduced by him in India is ‘Christian Audigier’, which is a super premium brand for casual evening wear.

Providing the latest styles every month through a range of designs, Ed Hardy has a wide range of tees, jeans, dresses, jackets, wallets, belts, shoes, sunglasses and much more for the fashion conscious consumer. “The USP of our brand is that products are not repeated and hence, fashion conscious consumers want these products as collectibles and limited edition pieces,” Zutshi says.

Ed Hardy currently has nine stores across India of these three are EBOs and six shops-in-shops. The company is soon to launch another trendy outlet in South Delhi. This will be its second outlet in Delhi. Zutshi avers, “As far as expansion plans are go WLRPL will actively continue to deliver the best of brands and international fashion in the coming years. We are in the process of evaluating about six to seven global brands, which have a strong connect with the Indian consumer. Soon we will be launching some of these and hope to continue giving Indian consumers differentiated and high level service and experience.”

Already active on social media sites the brand keeps its consumers updated on the networking site like Facebook. “Facebook gives us an opportunity to gauge consumer’s needs and their perception about the brand,” exclaims Zutshi. Meanwhile, the brand plans to explore newer and fresher markets. For example, Zutshi says that women’s fashion for the age group 15-21 years is still untapped in India. The same applies for men’s denims and kids wear. “A few years down the line we would see Ed Hardy unearthing the potential of these segments as well,” he adds. Last year, the turnover for the brand was Rs 13 crores. This year, the expectation is a turnover of Rs 23 crores

Tags:Ed Hardy, Abhinav Zutshi, christian audigier, wlrpl, wadhawan lifestyle retail, license global premium brands, international license brands, international franchise brands, international franchisees

Source:Fashion United, Wednesday, 28 July 2010

Zara Opens Up Vistas in The Premium International Womens Wear Market India

2010-07-24T05:46:00.000-07:00

Sfeema Kakkar has followed a simple routine for the past few weeks. At least once a day, without fail, she makes sure she pops over to her Mecca, a glittering new store that’s opened next to hers. As the entrepreneur who launched Remanika, a women’s wear brand, Kakkar has modelled her entire business concept on Zara, one of the most successful fashion retailers in the world, known for getting the latest designs into the market before anyone else. More than five weeks ago, Zara opened its first store in Delhi, followed soon by Mumbai. The Mumbai store in the Palladium mall is a few metres away from Kakkar’s shop-in-shop outlet inside Pantaloon department store in High Street Phoenix. The chance to observe Zara’s has proved hugely beneficial. “I wanted to be an Indian Zara, so this is like a school for me,” says Kakkar.

Kakkar’s response isn’t surprising. Zara is indeed the Coca-Cola of the fashion world. Starting sometime in the mid-Seventies in Spain, Inditex, the Euro 11 billion (revenue) company that owns Zara and some other labels, built a hugely successful business model of taking the latest catwalk designs and converting them into affordable high street fashion in a matter of three weeks. Zara focusses on rapid product development and design and outsources the manufacture in small batch sizes to a network of dedicated suppliers. Its ability to bring changing fashion quickly to market has meant that while customers in Europe visit other fashion stores just three times a year, they visit Zara 17 times, according to one study.

Many entrepreneurs have tried imitating Zara, but none of them have been quite as successful. For most part, Inditex remains notoriously secretive. It attends very few industry conferences and is guarded in revealing too much about its business model.

Zara’s track record on globalisation has been enviable. Its flexible, high-speed business model has travelled from Spain to 77 markets around the world, including China. It entered mainland China in 2006 and has close to 44 stores there. Pablo Isla, the 46-year-old chief executive of Inditex, is now betting big on India. In earlier media interactions, he has also made it known that it may well be among its most challenging market entries yet.

Zara’s global model will be tested in India on three counts. One, there aren’t too many seasonal variations. In most parts of the country, winter is non-existent or at best lasts barely a couple of months. So driving new fashions every season isn’t easy. Two, there is the cultural issue: Although the new mall culture is inducing buying habits to change, Indians still don’t change their wardrobe that quickly. And it is Zara’s ability to get customers to visit and buy several times a year that enables it to achieve scale. Three, as a concept, Western women’s wear is still catching on. For most part, traditional Indian wear tends to dominate the wardrobe. And there is a strong preference for bright colours as opposed to the limited colour palette — black, white and browns — in the West.

So far, Zara has cranked out all its designs from a hub near Madrid and airlifted the finished product to its stores around the world twice a week. The added costs have been defrayed by charging a higher price in each of these foreign markets. In India, most foreign retailers have struggled to build a strong franchise based around import-led premium pricing strategy.

This is why Isla is clear that he isn’t hoping for a quick ramp-up in India. Apart from the two stores in Mumbai and Delhi, Zara will in all likelihood add two more stores in Delhi and Bangalore — and then learn from its experiments, before it begins expanding. A 2002 study says Zara follows what it calls an “oil stain” strategy. It means Zara opens its first few stores in a country to get an understanding of a market and then uses that knowledge as it expands into that market. “The most important thing for us to enter a new market is the existence of potential customers: People sensible to fashion phenomenon. And, in an operational sense, the availability of suitable locations,” says Inditex’s official spokesperson via email.

Now let’s look at its initial performance. The fact is that Zara has had an opening few foreign brands have had in India. Through the opening weekend, there were long queues outside its trial rooms as women jostled to try out clothes. According to industry sources (Zara itself is famously reticent about sharing numbers), it had sales of close to Rs. 1.25 crore in the first weekend in Delhi and nearly the same in its Mumbai store. Delhi’s Select Citywalk mall recorded 40 percent more footfalls than it usually does and Mumbai’s Palladium mall recorded close to 30 percent higher footfalls.

“Any mall owner will want Zara now for free because it has an ability to bring more people of a certain kind into the mall,” says Arjun Sharma, promoter of Delhi’s Select Citywalk mall.

“Their opening has been far beyond expectations,” says Govind Shrikhande, chief executive of department store chain, Shoppers Stop. He credits the brand with opening up the premium women’s wear market in an unexpected way. Industry executives such as him pin Zara’s initial success to the fact that it faithfully brings its famously international brand appeal and experience without having the higher prices that foreign brands typically have in India on account of high duties.

At more than 16,000 sq ft, the stores look and feel exactly as they do internationally. The merchandise is also the same as is available in international stores currently, except that these stores have more of its “Basic” and casual wear collections rather than the higher end “Collection” clothes and accessories.

Source:This article appeared in Forbes India Magazine of 30 July, 2010

Tags:Zara, Zara Franchise, Remanika,Indian Zara,Seema kakkar,Inditex, Pablo Isla, womens wear franchise,select city walk, palladium mall,international franchise.

Anusara Yoga Franchise-Worlds Fastest Growing Yoga Styles Franchise

2010-07-24T05:33:00.000-07:00

New York: There is so much going on in John Friend's life right now that an assistant once teased him about waking just before dawn and calling to ask for coffee, only to be reminded that he, Friend, was in Quito, Munich or Seoul, while the assistant was back at home base in the Woodlands, a cushy suburb north of Houston. That Friend, the founder of Anusara, one of the world's fastest-growing styles of yoga, has an assistant is itself significant; many people still picture yogis as serene guys who live in respectable deprivation in places like Mysore or Pune, India, and wait for disciples to find them. Not Friend.

Consider one afternoon in early June when he had just left a meeting with potential investors in Seattle, having flown to the West Coast after several months of giving Anusara workshops in Tokyo, Taipei, Bali and Morrisville, N.C., and was making a brief stopover in the Woodlands on his way to teach more workshops in Copenhagen, Munich, Paris and Park City, Utah -- stops on his "Melt Your Heart, Blow Your Mind Tour." Friend's modest, two-story faux Tudor home (filled with statues of Hindu gods, prayer flags and other souvenirs of his myriad travels) was a semimaelstrom of recently washed clothes, piled-up mail and stacks of unread publications with headlines like "Nine Life-Altering Lessons" -- a reflection of the semimaelstrom that is his life.

When Friend wasn't off leading workshops, he was helping plan the yoga-and-music Wanderlust festival to be held this week in Squaw Valley and the Anusara Grand Gathering in Estes Park, Colo., in September, the lead-in to Yoga Journal's annual weeklong conference featuring major American yoga teachers. "John brings in huge numbers," says Elana Maggal, conference director for Yoga Journal, the bible for practitioners. "In 2008, his was the largest yoga class ever held at our conference. We had 800 people all in one room. We had a waiting list of 200. Needless to say, we want to replicate that."

On the road and at home, Friend also keeps tabs on all the ancillary businesses he has created in the last 13 years, since Anusara was born: his global Anusara expansion (Studio Yoggy, one of the biggest yoga-school chains in Japan, will be offering Anusara yoga classes); his Anusara publishing ventures (he has commissioned a history of yoga and continues to work on his own book, albeit sporadically); and his Anusara yoga-wear business (Friend has his own line, but also works with Adidas, which is using Anusara yoga trainers in its worldwide yoga push). He is also financing historical yoga research in Nepal and Kashmir.

Simultaneously, Friend is trying to raise money for his most ambitious project to date, the Center, which he is planning to locate in meta-crunchy Encinitas, Calif. Friend expects the Center, with art, music and theater, in addition to yoga, to expand the Anusara "community" -- his word -- which currently includes 200,000 students in 70 countries and about 1,200 licensed-by-John-Friend teachers. In his downtime, Friend regularly sends Twitter messages to his 5,000 followers and to his 8,000 Facebook fans. But there is always more to do: during the 36 hours he spent at home, he taped his portion of a DVD titled "Titans of Yoga," in which he will appear with other American yogis like Shiva Rea and David Swenson. ("Namaste," he said, relaxed before the camera in a white linen shirt and khakis. "I'm John Friend, the founder of Anusara yoga. I've been practicing for 40 years. . . . Yoga is my life. It's not just something I practice on a sticky mat.")

ANUSARA - THE YOGA OF YES

Friend, buoyantly serene, settled himself into an overstuffed leather chair in his living room, while his assistant du jour, a willowy woman named Margaret, padded in and out, dispensing water and taking notes. "We were up till 3 a.m. last night," he said, capping a recitation of all his on-the-fly planning. Friend rubbed his eyes and abandoned attempts to stifle yawns. It's tiring being one of the most famous -- and one of the most entrepreneurial -- yogis on the planet. Friend, who is 51, has close-cropped curls that are snowy white; there is a significant crease between his slate blue eyes; and he is just a little doughy. Though he is frequently described as charismatic, he is a bit distracted in repose. But once he starts talking about Anusara, his boyish energy returns. You almost expect him to levitate.

Friend is not so much a conversationalist as a monologuist, an occupational hazard of someone who urges hundreds of people at a time to bend, stretch and connect with "the extremely intelligent spirit within that is mind-blowingly revealing." As he tried to sum up his creation, his eyes slipped out of focus as he zigged into tantric philosophy and zagged into Anusara's metaphysical underpinnings -- but that didn't really get him where he wanted to go. He cited the "top scholars" who have helped him refine Anusara's message. Then he talked about the freedom of Anusara; it's nothing like the more rigid schools that demand students repeat the same poses in the same way at every single class, nor is it the kind of practice in which teachers withhold praise, lest students become too egocentric. "Anusara is positive," Friend said, resting his head on the back of his chair and absently caressing one of many highly polished orbs on an adjacent table. "It's accessible. Easily applicable. And yet it has depth and sophistication."

Consider those religions that focus on sin and damnation, on discipline instead of joy. "Fundamentally they say no," he told me. "While Anusara is a yes."

Friend's world was coming back into focus. His eyes became brighter, and his jet lag fell away, dissolved by this insight.

"We are," Friend said, beaming, "the Yoga of Yes."

'THE CULT OF JOHN'

The first time I encountered John Friend was at a workshop at a Woodlands community college nearly 10 years ago. At the time I was practicing a stricter form of yoga, and Friend's joke-cracking and mind-boggling acrobatics -- he is famous for his handstands -- were something of a revelation. Yoga could be . . . fun? Friend's assistants then were mostly middle-aged suburban women who had once been his students, and if the yoga was no easier than what I had been practicing, their touch and encouragement was both comforting and inspiring. Failing to execute a pose meant nothing more than that you might succeed next time. As Friend led us through the poses, he spoke in a soft voice, insisting that we contain divinity within ourselves and must discover and express our inner goodness to fulfill our obligation to better our world. How to do so was never expressly stated -- except for practicing yoga, of course -- but I left the workshop feeling better physically, mentally and emotionally.

I didn't know at the time that this was my introduction to what others call "the cult of John." If Friend could be compared with anyone outside the yoga world -- and I am not sure he would like this comparison -- it would be Joel Osteen, the magnetic evangelical megachurch minister with the feel-good message and a book-and-television empire. Osteen's God is loving and forgiving. Osteen doesn't get hung up on dogma, and thus everybody is welcome.

Similarly, Friend's yoga is based on classic hatha-yoga postures -- he has refined them using what he calls "universal principles of alignment" -- but it can be as challenging as a student wants it to be. His classes are less about toned abs than about self-expression and enjoyment. (Adjustments don't make the poses "right," for instance, they make them "more beautiful.") You don't have to be a vegan to become an Anusaran, and unless you want to be an Anusara teacher, you don't have to master complex texts. He uses just enough Sanskrit to be exotic without being incomprehensible. Friend's "dharma talks" -- short sermons -- are based largely on simplified tantric principles (not, he stresses, the ones relating to tantric sex): students learn that they are divine beings, that goodness always lies within, that by opening to God's will -- opening to grace, Friend calls it -- "you actually become vastly more powerful than the limited person that you usually identify with." Instead of joining a megachurch, you join the Anusara kula, Sanskrit for family. Like Osteen, Friend has found a way to attract large numbers of people by softening the hard edges of a rigid ideal and by applying the full force of his personality to achieving that goal.

"He has created his own community very self-consciously," says Stefanie Syman, the author of "The Subtle Body," a new history of American yoga. "Most charismatic teachers do that. What happens is if you are successful deliberately or inadvertently, a lot of students evangelize on your behalf and spread the word." Friend's success also speaks to the dissolution of traditional communities. "People used to find community at their church or synagogue or club or league," Syman notes. For some, yoga now serves that function. "Especially if you have an intense physical practice and are interested in transformation, you feel like you've lived through something with someone. You have an intimacy with them that you don't have with anyone else."

Certainly the fan letters I asked to see bore that idea out: "My experience at your conference altered my being," wrote one student. "I drove through the mountains and stopped every few minutes to write about the dancing rivers and the aspen paving my way with liquid gold." Another wrote, "This was the first time in a room of 200 people that I did not feel overwhelmed, out of place or somehow in the wrong room."

YOGA, THE AMERICAN WAY

Friend's timing could not be better. Some 16 million Americans now practice yoga, a 5,000-year-old mental, physical and spiritual discipline brought to us by Indian gurus. Nowadays there aren't just hourly classes in major American cities but also in places like Deephaven, Minn., and Hattiesburg, Miss. "Namaste," the traditional end-of-class blessing, has become a punch line. A school in Houston even offers "jello shots" after class. If yoga began as a meditation technique for people all too familiar with physical as well as mental suffering -- with poses, or asanas, devised to assist in reaching a transcendentally blissful state -- it has taken on a distinctly American cast. It has become much more about doing than being. More about happiness than meaning. It's a weight-loss technique and a stress-management tool, a gateway to an exploding market for workout clothes and equipment. Spending on yoga classes, books, clothes, Om amulets, mats and more has increased 87 percent since 2004, to $5.7 billion a year. As yoga has developed a vigorous capitalistic side, traditionalists have expressed their dismay. "We need introspection, and this yoga" -- commercialized yoga -- "is not about introspection," says Judith Hanson Lasater, an author of eight yoga books and a founder of Yoga Journal. "We have a whole country full of restive people who are not contemplative. The idea of the asana is to calm you to prepare you to move at a human pace, not the pace of electrons on the computer."

Like many other small-stakes subcultures -- the world of poetry, or academia, say -- yoga has become embroiled in head-of-a-pin type arguments. In yoga's case it centers on authenticity. The fight over whether it is a spiritual or a physical practice has raged virtually since its inception, but now in the United States this question has been tinted with issues of competition, status and sweat. People who favor the demanding flow of Ashtanga yoga, for instance, might scoff at those who practice Iyengar yoga, which is slow-moving but stresses proper placement of the body in the poses. (Think of boot camp versus a classical ballet lesson.) Then again, serious meditators -- those who revel in stillness and make pilgrimages to ashrams in India in search of yoga masters -- disdain the spandex-clad 20-somethings who dash to hot-yoga class to burn off yesterday's cheeseburgers. For a yoga teacher, these debates spell opportunity: anyone whose technique takes off -- or promises some sort of transformation, spiritual, physical or both -- can become a star, supplementing the average yoga teacher's meager $35,000 annual income with cash generated from workshops, lectures, books, clothing, DVDs.

Friend set out to build his brand by straddling yoga's two poles: he is trying to enhance yoga's spiritual aspects by training teachers to speak inspirationally as they teach their students to master the postures. In his teacher-training manual, Friend spends a great deal of time on philosophy and writes that the spiritual effects of yoga are more important than the physical ones. He expresses this aim in language that draws as much from Dale Carnegie and the American idiom of self-improvement as from Hindu philosophy. Teachers, he writes, should "lead the students to that magical place where everyone's heart opens naturally and where everyone feels empowered and filled with self love."

YOU'VE GOT TO ROCK IT OUT FULLY, SAYS THE ROAD WARRIOR

Friend, who has a degree in finance and accounting, has also corporatized the practice. Like all yoga stars, he's a road warrior, giving workshops as a way to drum up business. But Friend's niche is to be less exotic than some yogis while being more spiritual than the most commercial ones. He calls himself Anusara's general manager, as opposed to its guru. He doesn't wear a turban like some Kundalini yoga teachers, or his hair exceedingly long, like David Life, a founder of Jivamukti yoga. Nor does he define the spiritual aspects of yoga the way some schools do -- he doesn't press students to embrace animal rights or to chant for extended periods. And he doesn't stick to the same sequence each time in class. On the other hand, Friend brings in enough spirituality and gentleness to differentiate himself from the hot and heavy yoga types, like the bandanna-wearing power-yoga creator, Baron Baptiste. Friend also would not be confused with the Indian master Bikram Choudhury, who created and franchised a kind of hot yoga, which stresses transformation through a rigid workout in a 100-plus-degree room, not through happy sermonettes. Friend's persona is that of an easygoing guy with an easygoing yoga -- except when it comes to business. Friend is not above a little intrayoga competitive trash talk to make his point: People know about physically oriented yoga, he said, "but as we grow they are going to learn about Anusara. Then people can choose -- either they are going to go to a fast-food joint or a fine restaurant."

Not surprisingly, Friend's detractors -- and there are at least as many as admirers -- claim that he has watered down and commercialized a hallowed tradition for his own gain. Anusara Inc. currently has about $2 million a year in revenue, though Friend says, "We spend as much as we bring in, so we have little profit." An Anusara prospectus from the spring predicted that revenue could double by 2012. Friend is the sole stockholder in the company and pays himself a salary that is just under $100,000 -- a fortune in the yoga world. Friend, of course, is not ashamed to sell this new American cocktail of spirituality and exercise. How can people get the word unless he spreads it? "There's no differentiation between yoga philosophy and business philosophy," he said of Anusara. "We honor spirit, based on our vision that life is good."

He was in fine form last spring at a Melt Your Heart, Blow Your Mind workshop in Hollywood, where about 500 people, mostly young, mostly women and most of them spectacularly fit, paid around $150 for three days of nonstop Anusara. The event was held in the ballroom of an Armenian cultural center on Vine Street, complete with a 5,000-square-foot stained-glass ceiling, which the hyperbolic Friend could not resist calling "the biggest, most beautiful stained-glass window in the world." The stage featured pots of multicolored zinnias, along with statues of the Hindu gods Americans tend to favor: the elephant-trunked Ganesh, remover of obstacles; and Lakshmi, goddess of wealth and beauty. In an adjacent hallway, yoga books, Anusara T-shirts and DVDS, Hindu statuettes and Om refrigerator magnets were on sale.

Friend entered the room almost imperceptibly but was soon surrounded by his students, who giggled at his responses and were eager for his touch. (One sign that Friend, who is divorced, has reached rock-star yogi status: men and women press hotel-room keys into his hands at workshops.) Unlike many, more severe yoga masters, Friend worked the crowd like a contestant on "Last Comic Standing": "Cool color!" he said, inspecting a student's polished toenails, or "Pray for him," when he guided a student into a difficult pose. And for hours on end, he never stopped talking, seemingly without drawing breath, about the light that always follows the darkness, about being a better person than you were a year ago and about always, always, giving your all, on the mat and elsewhere. "Whatever you've got, you've got to rock it out fully," he said in Los Angeles. "You've got to work the edge. The edge is so cool."

No one could ever accuse Friend of holding back. The final event of the Hollywood workshop was a laser light show. Everyone locked eyes on a far wall, oohing and ahhing to undulating beams of bright green, yellow, red, orange and blue that supposedly reflected the flow of energy, or chakras, in our bodies. "Hey, John," someone finally cracked. "Are you gonna put some Pink Floyd on?"

YOGIS WERE HIS SUPER HEROES

As much as Friend preaches the gospel of openness, he's relatively guarded about the story of his own life. Like a lot of celebrities, he tells a version of his history from which he never deviates: his father, a former sportscaster and marketing executive, had economic troubles and so moved the family from the Rust Belt to Texas; his mother was an intellectually gifted Southern belle and a Juilliard graduate with a theatrical flair. Colleagues told me, and Friend concurred, that when his mother was ill -- she died of cancer in 2002 -- Friend, the older of two boys, strived to cheer her up with his wisecracks. It was she who introduced Friend to yoga. He wore braces as a child to correct his pigeon toes; after the braces came off, his mother started him on the practice, and he never stopped. His mother gave him books about yogis too, and soon Superman and Batman had little allure. "I wanted to be a yogi because they knew the mysteries of life," he told me. "They could dematerialize." He was obsessed with magic (the word is on the vanity plate of his silver BMW, which he inherited from his mother) -- and followed raptly the tales of miraculous transformations he heard in the different churches his mother insisted they visit every Sunday. As he grew older, Friend played drums in a rock band, a portal to another kind of transformation to be sure, but one that still spoke to a desire for a very public life.

Friend may not have known it at the time, but he connected with yoga at a critical point in its history in America. As Syman notes in "The Subtle Body," yoga in the United States dates to the late 19th century, when it was first propagated by Indian yogis like Swami Vivekananda and Paramahansa Yogananda, who wrote "Autobiography of a Yogi." But the yoga that ultimately prevailed here was not the stringent, meditative practice supposedly leading to spiritual bliss that was more common in India; its health and beauty benefits were always a better sell. (A nice yoga-fan through line runs from Gloria Swanson to Ali MacGraw to Christy Turlington.) By 1976, five million Americans had signed on.

Friend was never content to be just another yoga enthusiast. Horatio Alger could have been one of his swamis. He bought himself a car when he turned 16 with money he made working after school. In 1983, he graduated from Texas A&M University -- no bastion of any counterculture -- and paid his dues as a financial analyst until he took the leap and began teaching yoga full time. By 1987 he was teaching Houston housewives and, he likes to joke, the occasional farmer in overalls. He also began traveling to workshops all over the country, including one with Judith Hanson Lasater, who introduced him to Iyengar yoga. Within a few years, Friend had taken workshop with B.K.S. Iyengar himself and with Pattabhi Jois, the creator of Ashtanga.

A YOGA STAR IS BORN

In other words, Friend was aligning himself with the greats of contemporary yoga, Indians whose teachings were then shaping the yoga world. (Lineage is as important in yoga as it is to Boston bluebloods.) By 1989 he was in Pune, for a month of study with Iyengar. That year, at age 30, he gave a confounding performance on a rickety wooden platform at the Siddha Yoga Ashram in Ganeshpuri, India (the same one Elizabeth Gilbert described in "Eat, Pray, Love"). In videos taken that day, Friend looks barely beyond his teens: his brown hair and beard were scraggly, and he was so slight from a bad intestinal virus that he seemed incapable of moving, much less contorting into a lotus position while balancing in handstand. But that is what he did. Friend's skill was impressive -- he was then practicing for a minimum of three hours every day -- but what really set him apart was his style, which conveyed both bravado and vulnerability. The hundreds of Indians and Americans present that day gave him a standing ovation, and from then on, the story goes, John Friend was not just the Iyengar teacher for the ashram but a bona fide yoga star, with invitations to teach around the world. "There was a lot of grace involved," he told me.

As Friend rose to higher positions in the Iyengar organization -- he spent four years on the board in the 1990s -- he also observed and absorbed Iyengar's exacting standards of teacher certification, which require the study of anatomy, physiology, philosophy and ethics, as well as teaching a demonstration class and passing a written exam. From the leader of the Ganeshpuri ashram, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda -- no stranger herself to American celebrity -- Friend learned how to give intimate, inspirational talks to crowds of thousands. He also befriended American scholars of Eastern spirituality studying in India. In each of these encounters, Friend was the yogic equivalent of a sponge, or as one associate recalled, "He was a man with a mission." The mission then was to reclaim yoga from the many U.S .teachers who were so consumed with the physical practice -- it was all about the workout -- that they sweated out any trace of spirituality.

Equally important, Friend wanted to create a new yoga school that wasn't just accessible but commercially sustainable. In the ensuing years, Friend, restless, eager and supremely confident, broke with Iyengar and distanced himself from Chidvilasananda as he began to refine what he saw as his own yoga technique. As he wrote in 1995, "Finally I realized that I was not fully aligned with Mr. Iyengar's philosophy and method, so it was not dharmic of me to continue to use his name to describe my teaching style." Their philosophical differences -- the kind of intrayogic argument best left to the professionals -- were compounded by mentor-disciple issues. In essence, Friend wanted a kinder, gentler yoga school -- though his critics say he simply wanted to build his own empire, and grafted a touchy-feely teaching method onto what remains, essentially, Iyengar yoga. (Whether you believe Friend felt constricted or Iyengar felt betrayed, a residue of bad feeling remains.) By 1997 Friend had come up with a name, Anusara, and a mission statement. "Anusara yoga is a hatha-yoga system that unites universal principles of alignment with a philosophy that is epitomized by what I call 'celebration of the heart,' " he wrote.

NEVER STOP DREAMING

He merged his entrepreneurial nature with his yogic one. Friend wrote his own teacher-training manual, which is about as detailed as an oil-refinery operations handbook. Like Iyengar, he created a teacher-certification program; his students must complete a minimum of 200 hours of training at workshops -- an expense that can require extensive travel -- buy his training manual ($30) and pass his 30-hour take-home test. A $195 training DVD is also recommended. There are licensing fees of around $100 that must be renewed annually. In this way, Friend maintains quality control and an income stream, but this standardization has cost him the loyalty of older teachers who find the new rules somewhat unyogic. Friend also discourages Anusara studio owners from including other forms of yoga at their schools, lest they dilute his brand. As one former associate, Douglas Keller, put it, "If a particular McDonald's store chooses to start serving spaghetti, McDonald's can decide to revoke its franchise."

On a brilliant day last April, Friend was in a celebratory mood. He took his small, young staff to an especially nice Woodlands restaurant, where they sat in a private room with fresh flowers, white tablecloths and Champagne. The occasion was Anusara's 13th birthday and a promising meeting with some investors about the Center, the latest plan to extend Anusaraworld. "Our little company is expanding," Friend told the group, in between checking texts and e-mail. Friend was, then as always, between tours -- he'd been in Detroit and was heading for Japan but already seemed in three places at once.

"What is the company? Anusara!" he declared. "We do yoga lifestyle, helping people to be happy. How do you like that?" The staff looked happy but slightly wary, like kids taken to a nice restaurant by a demanding parent.

Before anyone ordered food, Friend started in on another dharma talk/monologue about the Center, or as he put it, "the home of the kula." There would be a soundstage and theater for yoga events, along with editing facilities for live streaming video, the better to teach in India as well as Peoria. There would be a 1,000-square-foot retail boutique too. In his prospectus, Friend described the Center as the main artistic training venue for Anusara yoga globally, which would also serve as a place to "make living art, to turn every day into an art project. Shri is the lustrous beauty which turns your mind to the Divine." Along with Anusara students, there would be filmmakers, musicians, poets, acrobats, dancers and rock climbers.

It sounded like an awful lot, and it was a little hard to tell how Friend was going to make so many activities yogic, life-expanding and restorative all at once. I had a similar feeling when Friend invited me to a private "happening" one night after the Hollywood workshop. The party was held at a loft in a warehouse district near downtown Los Angeles. The music was loud, and the lights were bright and pulsating, and some of the people were in costume. There may have been a smoke machine.

At a certain point, Friend, in black jeans and a spangled black shirt, called for quiet and introduced the entertainment. A young woman danced with flaming torches, and another danced with flaming hula hoops. A pair did a Cirque du Soleil tribute by performing acrobatics while hanging from the 30-foot ceiling on muslin swags. Friend's contribution was an ode to creativity he recited, while a young woman with flowing curls and a face painted to match her tiger costume danced and writhed on the floor.

We ride the tiger. . . .

I taste her hunger

In the burning of my desire

There is no hotter fire

The event resembled Ringling Brothers crossed with an Allen Ginsberg reading, what the yogi Judith Hanson Lasater might call "yoga and . . ." -- yoga and Pilates, yoga and shopping. Eventually you wind up a long way from sitting in a quiet room, focused on the breath as it flows in and out.

Friend, of course, wouldn't see it that way. "For me, any artistic expression that is performed and expressed with an intention of awakening to the essential nature of one's Being (Spirit) and with the intention of glorifying the intrinsic Goodness and Shri (Divine Beauty) of that spirit is considered Yoga," he wrote me in an e-mail message from South Korea. "Therefore, yoga can be expanded to include dance, music and other forms of Art."

In other words, it's all good. Back at the Woodlands restaurant, Friend called for a toast. "To the next level," he said, raising his glass. "Keep dreaming, keep dreaming. Never stop dreaming."

Tags:Anusara Franchise, Yoga Franchise, Studio Yoggy, Yoga School, Yoga Business, Shiva Rea, David Swenson, John Friend, Stefanie Syman,Judith Hanson Lasater,Bikram Choudhury,Hot Yoga Franchise,

Source:http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/stretching-the-business-of-yoga-39062?cp

Celebrities Drawing India To Gyms, Igniting the gym franchise industry

2010-07-19T04:26:00.000-07:00

MUMBAI, India, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Taking a trip to a couple of gyms in various pockets of Mumbai and quizzing a few gym goers, and the answer you are going to get is this: "Who doesn't want to have hot bodies like that of John Abraham, Bipasha Basu or Priyanka Chopra?"

Is the fitness industry in Mumbai being driven by this narcissistic urge to follow celebrities?

Nutritionist and fitness consultant, and proprietor of Bodyworks -- Weight Management Specialists, Venu Hirani has been in this industry for the last 16 years.

"It is both -- awareness about fitness being a part of lifestyle as well as a desire to have super-slim bodies like that of celebrities -- that is taking the person out of his home to the fitness center," she said.

She pointed out that just take a look at what defines a successful actor today: having a well sculpted body is one of the most important criteria if one wants to succeed as an actor as opposed to erstwhile movie stars.

"It is this need that draws our celebs today to not only stay in shape but also promote being fit. Couple this with a better understanding of why it is important to be fit and you have your answer for the influx of not only regulars but also newcomers to fitness facilities,"she said.

"Besides, people in India idolize their celebrities, and this does not only hold true for Bollywood stars. One thing common among everyone featured on Page 3 -- whether it is on the sports grounds, on television or in films -- is that they are all fit. As health professionals, many a time, it is a challenge for us to convince people that being healthy must be a way of life. So when a celebrity endorses our views, it creates a better impact," said Hirani.

Diet and fitness go hand in hand. These days, books on diet and nutrition are being published to educate consumers about the food choices they should make for effective weight control and management.

Some recent examples are Don't Lose your Mind, Lose your Weight by nutritionist and fitness professional Rujuta Diwekar and Eat Right to Stay Bright by Dr Shweta Rastogi, a clinical dietitian and consultant in lifestyle medicine.

Rujuta's book has a foreword by film star Kareena Kapoor, who said Rujuta has not just changed her body but also her mind and soul.

"When a celebrity endorses a book on diet and nutrition, it implies he or she supports the views of the author, and that helps to take the message across to many more people, thereby also adding to the ratings of the book,"said Hirani.

Celebrity fitness videos, a trend started in the West and made successful by Hollywood actress Jane Fonda seems to be taking off in India.

Jane Fonda's aerobics video called Jane Fonda's Workout (1982) sold 17 million copies, making it the best-selling home video ever, DVD versions of this were re-released from the year 2005 onwards.

In India, Bollywood has toed the Fonda line with fitness and yoga videos launched by actresses Rekha, Shilpa Shetty, and very recently by Bipasha Basu.

"Fitness videos help to further the potential of this business because of two things: first, the celebrity in question knows what has worked for her body, and she wants to share it with the world, and second, marketing the video is not a challenge with a celeb in the package," said Hirani.

The only downside to this is the person watching the video may not be as experienced as the celeb performing it and in case of medical issues may end up doing the wrong exercise, which may harm his body, she said.

"Fitness enthusiasts and practitioners, however, will find such videos beneficial for the variety offered and professionals will get an insight into what works well for celebrities,"she added.

The potential of this industry according to Hirani is huge. There is more than one fitness facility in almost every locality in Mumbai, and an average of two people from almost every household in Mumbai are enrolled in these facilities.

Interestingly, today there are a dime a dozen options available for consumers -- ranging from parks and beaches, which are free for all, to small- and medium-sized facilities, to the more recent 200 plus square meters facilities.

"It's a consumer's market at far as fitness goes," said Hirani.

Franchise gyms of the likes of US-based Gold's Gym and recent entrant, again US-based Snap Fitness in India, apart, the small- size, affordable, neighborhood gym format too is taking off in a big way. A franchise player in the city such as Gold's Gym has 45 centers in Mumbai whereas another major, Talwalkars Better Value Fitness, has 51 branches across major cities in the country, boasting of 55,000 members.

Talwalkars has a training academy too that offers education and conducts equipment training workshops for fitness professionals.

Fitness must be taken seriously in India because of mounting health issues such as obesity and diabetes, both of which are rising at an alarming pace in the country.

Obesity is a huge risk factor for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It also disturbs menstrual cycles in women and can lead to infertility in both sexes.

Tags:bodyworks, gym franchise, fitness franchise, franchise gyms, gold's gym franchise, snap fitness franchise, talwalkar franchise

Editor: Bi Mingxin, by Sharmistha Dey, Englishnews.cn

Tommy Hilfiger To Set Up 500 Accessories Retail Outlets In The Next 5 Years

2010-07-10T05:01:00.000-07:00

Around 500 Tommy Hilfiger accessories retail outlets will be set up in India in the next five years. The brand is sold in India through franchisee Murjani Group. The rising affluence sweeping across the metros and other towns has prompted this decision. According to consultant McKinsey & Co increasing incomes, urbanization and awareness about western brands is helping Tommy Hilfiger and other western brands to boost sales in a nation where revenue from selling apparel is predicted to more than double to as much as $55 billion in 2015. This will happen as Indians spend the most on buying clothes after food, with apparel accounting for about 10 percent of total retail sales in India.

Tommy Hilfiger’s first Indian retail outlet was opened in Mumbai in 2004. Mohan Murjani, Chairman of the Mumbai-based Murjani Group says apart from the 500 accessories stores that will sell belts, watches, wallets and stationery they will also double the number of outlets selling Tommy Hilfiger apparels to 2,000 in the next five years. Currently, Tommy Hilfiger is available through a 1,000 stores across 98 cities in India.

The Murjani Group owns the franchise rights to retail Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein and French Connection United Kingdom (FCUK) brands in India. This well-known company set up its first apparel store in 1930 in Shanghai and today its Indian holdings include a luxury mall in Mumbai. In the meantime, in March this year, the New York-based apparel conglomerate Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation decide to acquire the Hilfiger brand from the private equity firm Apax Partners LP, for approximately $3 billion.

Source:Fashion United,Friday, 09 July 2010

Tags:Tommy Hilfiger Franchise,Murjani Group, Mohan Murjani, Calvin Klein, French Connection United Kingdom, FCUK, Phillips Van Heusen Corporation,Retail Accessory Franchise,Apparel Franchise

Indian Retail Attracting Global Biggies

2010-05-21T05:26:00.000-07:00

French retailer Carrefour will enter India in July with its first cash-and-carry outlet, and set up three or four more such outlets by year-end, sources say.

* The retail sector in the nation of 1.1 billion people is estimated to have annual sales of $450 billion, according to consultant firm A.T. Kearney. Nearly 80 per cent of the market is in the hands of tiny family-run shops.

* Organised retail, or large chains, make up only 6 per cent of the market but is expanding at 20 per cent a year. This is driven by the emergence of shopping centres and malls, and a middle class of close to 300 million people that is growing at just under 2 per cent a year, according to data from National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and World Bank.

* People living in villages and small towns account for 59 per cent of consumer durables such as refrigerators and washing machines sales and 53 per cent of consumer goods like soaps, detergents and shampoos, according to the NCAER.

* Incomes in rural areas, where nearly two-thirds of the population lives, have risen driven by growth in agriculture for four consecutive years to 2008/09, according to a study by the Rural Marketing Association of India.

ROADBLOCKS

* India only allows foreign direct investment in cash-and-carry, or wholesale, ventures; there are restrictions on foreigners in retail because of opposition from millions of small shopkeepers that are valuable vote banks during elections.

* Foreign retailers can enter retail through franchise arrangements with local players, and are allowed to own up to 51 per cent in single-brand retail, while 100 per cent ownership is permitted in cash-and-carry ventures.

LOCAL COMPANIES

* Pantaloon Retail, is the country's largest-listed retailer, with hypermarkets, supermarkets, and department stores.

* Other prominent players are Tata Group's Trent and Shoppers Stop, Reliance Retail, a unit of Reliance Industries, Aditya Birla Retail and RPG Group which runs the Spencer hypermarkets.

MAJOR FOREIGN PLAYERS

* Wal-Mart has a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises, the parent of leading mobile services provider Bharti Airtel. It has launched two wholesale stores and plans to open another 10-12 over two-three years.

* Tesco, UK's largest retailer, has a tie-up with Trent for a franchise agreement for its hypermarket chain.

* Germany's Metro AG has its own cash-and-carry business, which operates under its own brand name.

* UK's Marks & Spencer operates an apparel retail chain and has a joint venture with Reliance Retail.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's top retailer, is accelerating its rollout of wholesale stores in India, a crucial growth market that has long frustrated global firms with restrictive rules.

Tags:organised retail, chains, carrefour, franchise arrangements, franchise agreements, india entry strategy,pantaloon retail, trent, reliance retail, walmart,tesco, joint venture india, india master franchise,

Source:Reuters / Mumbai May 21, 2010, 12:26 IST

Country Club India Franchise Clubs Across The Country.

2010-05-10T21:44:00.000-07:00

The Country Club India network of clubs is known all around with its members as the most accessible and reachable clubbing facility. The best feature that country club India members recognize is the number of own clubs and the country club India franchise clubs that provide the best service for the country club India members. These country club India franchise clubs are situated in almost all the states and regions in our country. These country club India franchise clubs have their presence starting from Jammu and Kashmir to Kodaikanal.

With the provision from country club India franchise clubs, Jammu and Kashmir offers different exquisite hotels and resorts for the country club India members. Country Club Heevan Resort Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. Country Club Heevan Retreat Gulmarg, Jammu and Kashmir. Country Club Hotel Heevan Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. Country Club Pine & Peak Resort Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. Th4e beauty of the Jammu and Kashmir is totally enjoyed by the country club India members with the help of the country club India franchise clubs in Jammu and Kashmir. The natural beauty that comprises the awesome snow capped mountains in Himachal Pradesh can be enjoyed by the country club members via country club India franchise clubs in shimla and Manali. Country Club Orchard Green Manali. Country Club De Vivendi Resorts Manali. Country Club Galleu Hill Resort Shimla. Country Club River Country Resort Manali. Country Club Sirmour Retreat Sirmur District, Himachal Pradesh. Country Club Snow Valley Resort Manali. Country club India franchise clubs also provides its clubs in Assam and Haryana too for the members pleasure.

Country club India franchise clubs are also a perfect destination in Goa as it has eight classy getaways naming The Country Club Aldiea Bello Resort Goa. The Country Club Alegria De Goa Resort Goa. The Country Club Beira mar Alfran Resort Goa. The Country Club Leoney Resort Goa. The Country Club Lotus Inn Resort Goa. The Country Club Maizons Lake View Resort Goa. The Country Club Resorte De Tio Carmino Goa. Country Club Roma Gardens Pen, Mumbai Goa Highway.

Country club India franchise clubs provide more options for the members in the other cities like West Bengal, Uttarkhand, Tamilnadu, Silvassa, Rajasthan, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Mysore, Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Hyderabad and other parts of Andhra Pradesh. Country club India franchise clubs are known for providing best facilities and luxury options for all the country club India members.

Tags:country club franchise, india franchise clubs,resort franchises, club franchise, franchising clubs, franchise resorts, leisure franchise, entertainment franchise,

Mothercare to open 200 stores in India.

2010-04-02T03:42:00.000-07:00

It is a cliché of parenting that has morphed into an investment thesis: in times of strife, children will be the last to suffer. And so Mothercare has often found itself top of the pile when investors were seeking a non-food retailer with the defensive characteristics of a sturdy child seat.

No longer. Yesterday, having sailed through the worst of the recession, it surprised the market with its first negative like-for-like UK sales figures since late 2005. Some factors are obvious, not least freak first-quarter weather, which meant some stores, notably in out-of-town locations, had to close. The cold weather also gave it little chance to sell its spring range of clothes and outdoor equipment.

But the company points to the quarter to the end of March being its least important, while its British stores are an ever-diminishing part of an increasingly international picture. Its overseas stores now account for 65 per cent of its total of 1,115.

There remains a compelling argument that Mothercare has grown up — or at least grown into its heady valuation of 16 times next year’s earnings. One soft quarter in extenuating circumstances should not give rise to panic, but it does at least allow pause for thought. Although the UK is home to only a third of Mothercare stores, at the last count it accounted for 80 per cent of revenue. This is both because the overseas business is not yet mature and because the stores are typically franchised — Mothercare earns a royalty fee, rather than sales.
So Britain remains the key. And it is here that Mothercare faces supermarket competition on equipment and childrenswear. Further up market, every player from Debenhams to Burberry is increasing its children’s ranges. It should also be noted that Mothercare includes its soaring online sales in like-for-like sales figures.
However, this takes an unduly pessimistic view of Mothercare’s lot. It is working to improve its international supply chain and now that it is developing critical mass in Asian markets, it can justify a hub that prevents goods being made in Asia, sent to Britain and distributed back to Asia. It recently announced plans to open 200 stores in India, which has the world’s biggest baby population, and because it is doing so through a joint venture, rather than a franchise, it will derive a bigger slice of profits.

At home, the shift to out-of-town will deliver cost benefits and will make it more closely resemble those specialists that thrive alongside the supermarkets (think Pets at Home and Halfords). More generally, the franchise model has brought Mothercare to a huge number of maturing markets at breakneck pace without staking the ranch.

Since Tempus last advised readers to dip into Mothercare, just over a year ago, its shares have risen more than 50 per cent. As any parent will tell you, it’s surprising how quickly they grow up. But Mothercare has plenty of growing years ahead. Hold.

Nirvana Opens its first jewellery store in Hyderabad, South India.

2010-03-26T00:18:00.000-07:00

Following its plans on big scale retail expansion in India, fine jewellery franchise retail brand Nirvana has opened a store in Hyderabad, in the plush lifestyle store Inorbit, reports say. This being its first steps into South India’s diamond jewellery ,market, it plans to make a stronger mark in the region in the years ahead, and is considering Bangalore and Chennai as its next destinations, reports add.

The retail brand is part of the portfolio of Fine Jewellery India Ltd.

Nirvana's retail expansion will involve fully owned stores and franchise outfits. At present the brand has five stand-alone stores and 110 stores in different formats. It has a major presence across large format lifestyle stores.

The current domestic demand for diamond jewellery is on the increase, and the brand is simultaneously growing its portfolio, targeting the working women category, reports add.

Source:Diamond World News Service

Groversons To Open 50 More Stores across South India

2010-03-07T23:32:00.000-08:00

Monday, 08 March 2010 06:52
Groversons the popular lingerie brand which holds 23 per cent market share in the organized bra segment is working on a blueprint to open company owned stores across India. The brand which has only two company-owned stores now plans to open 50 exclusive stores across India. “We are aiming for 300 per cent growth from exclusive brand outlets (EBOs). Initially, the plan is to open 10 stores and then scale it up to 50 EBOs,” says Rakesh Grover, MD, Groversons Group. Incidentally, they already have 12 EBOs, these are run by franchisee and go by the name Poem. They also have two company-owned stores for more than 20 years. “We are planning to invest about Rs 10 lakh per store for an area of about 250 to 500 sq. ft.” Groversons is best known among women for brands like Paris Beauty, Sparsh, Miss-T and Poems to name a few.
Meanwhile, the Groversons is also planning to spread to three states where they are not present at the moment. Their focus will be on the South Indian market where they have a relatively small presence. “We are aiming to be the number one lingerie brand in the south in the next few years. The north-east too has given us an overwhelming response,” says Grover.
At the moment 40 per cent of their revenues come from the north. Groversons is also present in large formats like Reliance, Big Bazaar and Max among others. The brand contributes 40-45 per cent of sales in large format for this category. However, it’s the EBOs which rake in the moolah. In fact, sale in EBOs is almost three times that of large formats. The brand is also present in 15,000 to 20,000 MBOs, which also gives the most revenue.
Grover says, unlike in Europe, in India fashion is a not priority when it comes to buying undergarments. Nearly 70 to 75 per cent of bra sales come from basics. However, buying habits are changing and people are asking for more colors and styles. Fashion is in demand but its moving in a more modest way. He says the Indian lingerie market is undergoing a transformation. Ten years ago, the organized sector had only 25 per cent share of the market. Today, it has increased to 33 to 35 per cent. “The growth of organized market is much faster than the unorganized one. Now the customer is aware of a good quality product and that can only be given by a brand,” he says. With a turnover of a little less than Rs 100 crore this year, Groversons is looking for a 30 to 35 per cent growth.

Max Hyper Markets To Add 25 Hypermarkets By 2012

2010-03-05T23:06:00.000-08:00

NEW DELHI: After a phase of consolidation, billionaire Micky Jagtiani-owned Max Hypermarkets, which operates Spar-branded superstores, plans to

expand its presence to new geographies and open 25 hypermarkets by 2012. This will result in a 10-fold increase in the company’s retail space—from 120,000 sq ft currently to 1.2 million sq ft.

Managing director Viney Singh said the company is expecting revenues to rise proportionately, from Rs 150 crore currently, to Rs 1,250 crore by 2012.

The company, currently, operates three large-format stores—two in Bangalore and one in Hyderabad—and is set to open its flagship property, a 90,000 sq ft store, in Bangalore next week.

Mr Jagtiani, who controls the Landmark Group, one of West Asia’s largest retail chains, owns fashion retail chain LifeStyle and Max Hypermarkets in India. Max is the licencee for the Spar franchise in India. A Dutch brand, Spar International, is one of the world’s largest retailer of food, with presence in over 33 countries.

“We will now open 6-7 stores each year through 2012. These are all large-format stores with an average size of 50,000 sq ft,” Mr Singh said.

India’s organised retail industry has been treading cautiously after many players had to shelve aggressive expansion plans as poor consumer sentiment slowed sales through 2008 and 2009. At least one player—Subhiksha—went bankrupt while another—Vishal Retail—is going through a corporate debt restructuring process.

Resurgent sales in the first months of 2010 have inspired greater confidence among large retailers such as Reliance Retail, Future Group and Spencer Retail, which have variously forged joint ventures, rejigged top management and undertaken other initiatives in a sign that the $37-billion industry might be gradually gaining momentum once again.

Max’s Singh said the company is investing Rs 400 crore, of which, about Rs 250 crore will be equity and the rest debt, to fund the expansion.

Max Hypermarkets will open 6-7 stores each year till 2012. While most of the stores will be in tier-2 cities in south India, such as Mangalore, Mysore, Vishakhapatnam, Vijayawada, and Coimbatore, the company will also be opening large stores in cities such as Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and New Delhi.

In many new malls opening in these cities, Max has signed on as an anchor client. “Being a hypermarket, we are naturally an anchor client for malls,” Mr Singh said, adding that his company works on a revenue sharing basis with mall owners. “It varies obviously, but on an average, the cost of occupancy works out to be 3-4% of revenues,” Mr Singh said. Rent and salaries are typically the largest cost overheads for retail operations.

The Lingerie Industry and the growth of its franchise in India.

2010-03-02T23:12:00.000-08:00

The existence of lingerie is as old as the existence of women who wear it. In the Middle Ages things were easier to live as women wore corsets various alternatives such as coats, the bliaunt and surcoat, which move more easily on their dresses and keep breasts firm. Wearing underwear / corset has been practiced since the ancient civilization of Egypt and Greece, where women wore corsets to support their breasts.Bras have been worn by all ages to support women's breasts and make them look fashionable.

18th century: it is believed that the history of underwear began in the 18th century. The padded silhouette with a flat stomach, slim waist and cone-shaped bust was a style. The corset, a vital element of any kind of women's clothing at the time, gave the body of a typical form, the crushing of internal organs and make them feel comfortable. Extreme use of satin, silk damask and adorned with embroidery,ribbons and lace gave the effect of art.

19th Century: The women wore corsets, crinolines and turns. The S-shaped silhouette trend began at that time. The women wore underwear like panties, corset, jacket and pants size.

20th century: Lingerie proved to be simpler and more convenient. Corsets have been replaced by a bra more flexible modern belt. The pastel colors for lingerie came into existence. In 1910, the figure became a youth trend. The bra first have a patent,which has been largely accepted, a bra was invented by a young New York socialite named Mary Phelps Jacob in 1910. Femininity in the 1930s became a fashion phenomenon. A woman has been covered by the parts known including bras, corsets and curves pointing bust and waist with suspenders. But a brace each have been widely accepted and panties have been reduced in size and finally obtained the shape of bikini briefs.

21st century, the era of intimacy-intimatewear: At this time the mode ispushing women to show the underwear as outerwear that relates to the sensory pleasure of a partner. Lingerie is considered the second skin of many women. In the current era, women have more choices than ever in terms of style, design, fabrics, etc. For many years of fashion at to lingerie styles was switching between the feminine and masculine , and painful practice. In recent times, lingerie is the most attractive, luxurious and feminine clothes that are wornintimately and respected for its convenience and comfort.

Forecast market growth in the world of Lingerie

Today, the main concern about the marketing of products of lingerie is the fight for share between global brands and local labels for retailers worldwide. It also focuses on consumer choice and acceptance of the brand. With its unmatched combination of fashion and function, lingerie is a product category that crosses the fine line between necessity and luxury. Besides these features, it has, An increase of $ 30 billion-a-year industry and has set for continued growth over the next five years.

For the lingerie market worldwide, it is necessary to verify not only the competition between brands, but also separate bra wars taking place between local brands and retail labels. The leading player among the lingerie brands in the world are the U.S. manufacturer Sara Lee, which has a large market share in its home country and the European market. AfterSara Lee, there are companies like Warnaco, Fruit of the Loom, VF and Maidenform, Triumph in Europe also have a significant market share. The most comfortable La Perla, meanwhile, is at the top of the high-end lingerie market worldwide.

In the retail sector, the American chain Victoria's Secret, Knickerbox the United Kingdom and northern European retailer Hunkemoller provide the specialized market, but the vast amount of lingerie is negotiated by clothing retailers such as Marks & Spencer and hypermarkets like Wal-Martand Carrefour. However, the tendency is to be robust on the statements that the bras, and repeatedly sell these items in multiple packages. While major retailers and brands to keep propelling the market, the singular nature of the claims that there is also a push to smaller, more labels in the marketplace that offers a little niche.

Of the total world market for lingerie, amounted to 29.5 billion dollars annually in 2003, bra calculated at 56 per cent of total sales, while memory and wear body / daywear / wear formcategory added 32 percent and 12 percent in that order. From about 6.4 billion bras and panties were purchased worldwide in 2003. The report shows that the average woman buys two bras and five pairs of pants per year. Sale lingerie in the developed world are to be seen how basic leads, with the average of six women with bras and eight pairs of briefs in his wardrobe – more than it usually requires.

The purchase of these products is usually determined by factors related to style, like whatstyles (g-string bra padded) look better in certain types of clothing, or what colors look best. In the past, this picture was not good for developing countries, where lingerie is bought more by necessity than desire. Although population growth, demographics unstable and the emergence of consumers more disposable income to change buying habits in these regions, and the lingerie market is expected to gain an advantage of this opportunity.
According to a research report,the lingerie market worldwide was estimated at 29.15 billion dollars (U.S.) in 2004 and should increase (at a rate of about 9 per cent) to $ 31.6 billion in 2012. And the product that will have the fastest growth is "underwear, daywear and shapewear.

Despite this significant growth, the demand for lingerie in the developed world has been observed to increase approximately five percent (based on a low population growth, aging and saturation of products), while that ofrest of the world should grow by nearly 20 percent.

Although this appears to be a fairly steady increase of 7 percent in worldwide volume of 6.8 billion units, it also amounts to a massive growth in developing countries. This will go together a remarkable surge to manufacture abroad in countries like China and India, the continuous improvement of technology and communications offer such alternatives more profitable than the national alternative. The markets are expectedto develop in the future include the Indian subcontinent, China and Southeast Asia. India and China should increase their international market share of approximately U.S. $ 100 million each, while South Asia, already a leading market for lingerie will increase from U.S. $ 350 million in value.

Given that price levels in these sub-regions are a little weak, which shows an expected growth in the quantity huge opportunity for companies to lingerie. The products that form the body and provide a smooth curveare seen as a key area of growth for buyers of baby boomers lingerie. New and innovative fabrics like Lycra and microfiber will continue, with many in this segment.

Price to maintain constant

With a tone of lower prices to a level of detail offsetting any attempt to increase manufacturers' costs, prices are not expected to have a significant impact on growth of lingerie market in the developed world until 2010. However, value growth in the developing world is more complicatedestimate, because of the vast trading on the gray or black markets and, therefore, not to normal retail prices.

Nevertheless, Sara Lee is expected to maintain its market dominance of developed countries and make significant inroads into other markets over the next five years – even in challenging financial problems faced by competitors such as Warnaco and Maidenform. With her low profile and hence companies with low debt as European Triumph Wolford and keep surviving. It isunderstandable that the strong volume growth of leasing for players of lingerie come from emerging markets, while in an area where discrimination is important, businesses will also benefit organized by marketers niche. Fortunately for all subjects, lingerie is driven by consumer loyalty to the brand, fit and comfort, making it one of the financially strongest segments of the apparel market.

China

China exported 4.2 billion pieces of underwear for women in 2004, 30 percentto increase from 2003. In China, Shantou is a hub for manufacture of underwear for women with well-developed systems and good management of the plant, providing a fast and efficient chain system of supply. This port city in Guangdong Province exported women's underwear worth $ 650 million in 2004, being the third of outbound shipments from China of the product. Shantou has more than 1,500 suppliers, about 150 of which export directly. Cities of Shantou associated Gurao,Xiaoshan, Chendian Liangying and are areas of advanced manufacturing. Gurao, the largest center, has more than 440 manufacturers of underwear. The annual sales reach 260 million, including $ 564 million bras and 180 million pairs of underpants. Shantou is famous throughout China as a major producer of knitted underwear. Xiaoshan and Chendian each produce more than 100 million worth of underwear women per year.

Suppliers in Shantou range from small businesses with 50 workers to large manufacturers with 1,500 employees. However, small and medium suppliers are large companies. Many suppliers have vertically integrated production of fabrics with internal knitting, dyeing, finishing and printing, tailoring and sewing, embroidery and packaging capacity. Bra City and suppliers panty models target mid-range, but high end models are also made by them. About 90 percent of production is for OEM orders.

Bras and panties are seamless fashion modelswhich are better now days. Hanzina Underwear Co. Ltd, a leading supplier of these products, has invested huge sums in 20 Santoni circular knitting machines from Italy, two systems of warp knitting and 350 sewing machines. The company produces 200,000 units per month. The use of lace and embroidered fabrics is also well-liked among suppliers Shantou. Underwear Knitting Factory makes Chengtai sets bra and panties with lace trim, embroidery and prints.

The midsize company makesunderwear Wal-Mart and the Oren Donna. Hongjie Underwear Industrial Co. is also a leading producer with 1,500 employees and fully integrated production that covers the fabric knitting and sewing. The company provides bras and panties Invented in knitted fabrics, prints and embroideries complex. The company also produces items such as push-ups and convertible bras.

Many companies are making efforts to reduce their lead and delivery times. Port of Shantou, one of 20 leading ports inChina, transportation of cargo to many countries and regions. This helps suppliers to provide convenient delivery to foreign buyers and supports the continuation of transport fares cheaper.
India

The lingerie market in India is still in its infancy and, until recently, the accessibility of high quality apparel intimate was limited to irregular or gray imports sold under the counter. Because of limited products and lack of sufficient specialized and organized distributionatmosphere, the achievement of fashion and quality awareness of the Indian consumer for intimate apparel is yet to achieve.

India is also one of the markets more dispersed retail worldwide. The products have so far been marketed primarily as a commodity and are price and margin driven. Till today huge quantities of bras are sold to end users by male sales in mom-and-pop shops. Most shops do not provide even a trial chamber.

Accordingly, major consumerbase are not sure of the functional characteristics of a bra or even their own sizes. When Gokaldas Intimatewear began developing enamor their first goal was good business. Enamor respondents across India and measured 4,000 women. They found that 80 percent of Indian women wore equipment underwear uncomfortable. In India, the bras were made only in cup sizes B and C, but enamor research has revealed that most Indian women needed cup sizes A or D.

In India, Triumph, Lovable Lingerie, enamor, Celebrities, JulietteAmul etc. are major players in the lingerie market. Today, 70 per cent of the lingerie market in India is unorganized. But this can not be replaced by the increasing number of malls and consumers concerned about the quality. For example, Lovable growth of 20 per cent last year has been sustained by new businesses and there has been a increased need for lingerie franchise enquiries across the country.

The contribution of combined market of the top five retailers in India are less than two percent. Although the lingerie sales rose 12 percent over the past five years due to anew awareness of intimatewear. Women's innerwear industry in India is worth Rs. 2000 crore and growing at an average rate of 12 per cent.
Turkey and Bangladesh have already seen the potential and aggressively promote its innerwear industry. Many Asian countries are India, defeating the United States, the world's largest importer of clothing. According to the U.S. Office of Textiles and Apparel, in 2002 the country imported 198,094,426 dozen pieces of underwear made of cotton. Contribution of India to this was a meager 2.36 per cent. In bras using material of human origin, the United States imported 37676800 dozen pieces. While China was 32 per cent of them, Indonesia had 10.5 percent. Even Bangladesh has 1 percent. However, India has exported a meager 0.65 percent. Although there is great potential to be recorded if approached in an organized manner with a good introduction.

Ready to wear women: the most profitable segment

The Rs.28 ,375-crore segment womenswear garment covers 32.1 per cent of sharesThe Indian apparel market in value terms. In terms of volume, market share of womenswear is one percent higher than men's fashion, but in terms of shareholder value is five percent lower than men's clothes because segment brand in ready to wear women was virtually nonexistent until a few years ago. Currently, the most profitable segment for investment. In 2005, volumes rose 5.5 percent while capital gains were as high as 15 percent.
Women's trousers and skirts categoryobserved a stronger growth in 2005, nine per cent of increasing volumes and value appreciating over 23 percent from 2004 levels. Western Wear, such as suits and jackets and lingerie are the two other categories where progress has been excellent, the volume and value growth is 10 percent and 21 respectively in the western wear and 6.8 and 18.1 per cent in lingerie.

At first Indian women to the most trusted foreign products or run their tailors corner embroidery friendly form fitting bodice,which were worn under dresses. But now the scenario is different. The movement first fashion for men and women was considered if associated Apparels Pvt Ltd, manufacturers of shirts Liberty, introduced the famous Maiden Form Bras, Jockey underwear and swimwear Jantzen in 1962 India.

It was a lean period for the shirts of Liberty with the complexity of imports and the opening of export markets, if the late Bhawandas Wadhwani approached the lingerie industry with technical expertise of theUnited States. The marks obtained a realization of their optimal level of style and quality. But because of restrictions imposed by the government for foreign brands, Wadhwani discontinued the overseas tie and changed the names to Libertina for lingerie and freedom for men's underwear in the late 70s. 80 to 90 company focused on the underwear. Even today Libertina and freedom are always one of the major players in the lingerie market.
With the triumph of Libertina and Liberty, other IndiansBusiness has also moved on the lingerie market. In the 70s Peter Pan of Dawn Mills entered the lingerie market with styles of the West. The brand was popular among Indian women, but two decades later, he disappeared from the market.

In 1971, VIP has entered the market for underwear for men with a big bang and became the most talked about brand because of its advertising featuring model Dalip Tahil. Since then, VIP is a leading player in the market men and women's underwear. VIP launched Petals, a molded bra with Lycra memorandum which was well accepted at this time, but was subsequently abandoned. But by introducing Loveable in 1996 was a huge success because they brought in a foreign brand, but it was made in India. Lovable was followed by feelings, and domestic VIP Daisy Dee another foreign brand. The very ultra Vanity Fair was introduced in 2004 and a mark Try to Korean men and women in 2004. VIP innerwear fashion new men called Frenchie X wastargeted to meet the challenges posed by foreign brands.

Another leading brand in the lingerie market is Rupa & Co founded in 1985. The variety of men, women and underwear for children in place, it is the largest Indian innerwear manufacturer and seller. Besides these two brands are other labels produced by them. Amul, Lux Cozi, Dollar are certain brands catering to a particular segment of the lingerie market for men, while the lingerie segment has its own localofferings as Neva, body care, Softy, Lady Care, Little Lacy, Red Rose, Sonar, Feather Line and many others.

In restructuring Jockey-90s entered the Indian market followed by Calida and Blu Liberti. Then the very haute couture Gossard existed for a limited time. In the 21st century, enamor, another foreign brands entered the Indian market through exports Gokaldas and the chic French brand Aubade began its only outlet in Mumbai. La Senza is the foreign brand next is set to enter themarket while Hanes already has a very unconventional campaign with a targeted ad to the trust for the Indian male.

One of the main players on the Indian market is the Triumph lingerie. They have a presence in 150 countries worldwide and a turnover of 2 billion dollars with an output of over 200 million units per year, producing 6000 new styles fashion designed by year by 200 designers in 11 countries. Triumph started its operations in India in six metros, and is now distributed in the45 cities. Regarding the lingerie is concerned, India is still in its initial phase. India has to wait to become a mature market compared to other Asian markets like Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Vietnam. Over the last three years there has been strong growth in the company, but the retail lingerie and distribution channels are limited. Triumph markets through retailers, MBO, and two franchises in Mumbai and Kolkata, and even they will grow in the nearfuture. From 300 outlets in India, we target to cross 1,000 points of sale in three to five years. With all the raw materials imported from Europe, Triumph is produced in Chennai and has acquired a 50 percent sales increase since entering the country. Although Triumph is the only international brand managed, it also aims to meet the Indian buyers and the ability of the source of smart fabrics are not available in India. Triumph was the first to introduce the tissue hydration with Aloe Vera andOne piece bra, which is produced by a piece of cloth. Sizes and styles are very special for Indian consumers. Triumph, which began production in India in 1998 started exporting to the United States before its entry into the local market. With 80 percent of exports and 20 per cent of local sales in India, Triumph adds new products and concepts for the styles of 5-10 each year.

Recently, well-known brands International Lingerie – Aubade – the fashion capital of France held at Indianmarket.

Although the prospects for international lingerie franchise is just as exciting and bright as outerwear and one the India's growth in that sector may be called almost negligible. Body and fashion shows of beach are presented twice a year around the world showing the latest trends in fashion innerwear. Fabrics new underwear with an "anti" as anti-stress, anti-smog, anti-static, anti-allergic, anti-bacterial, anti-moisture and anti-odor pamper the body. Top European products such as BrunoBanani, Excellent, Schneider, Louis Feraud, Calvin Klein, Gianfranco Ferre, DKNY, La Perla, Gossard, and Schiesser are some brands that set their inspiration to the ultimate test. Thank you to implement new outerwear made by designers from around the world and India, lingerie is published with the renewed fascination in India too.

It may be shocking that there are 1000 brands in the Indian market, but only 200 are active nationwide. Others are aimed at markets in the vicinity of their production. Many of these brands have continued until the advent of MNC labels for the last decade and should continue to do so.

The lingerie industry is progressing in India because of domestic demand combined with higher export potential considerably. She will soon get a position early. On a cottage industry can be transformed into an increase in trade. Indian brands have experienced that they should be more quality conscious and work harder in branding, promotion, packaging and innovation. Only the state of mind to make the lingerie world class fails. Small countries like Sri Lanka, Turkey and Bangladesh are major producers in this segment. Indian companies have recognized the importance of innerwear for men and women and the competition is hot as new and more players are able to offer that many Indians called the lift mode.

IF Brands (HURTADO) To Open Fendi Store, Young America In India

2010-02-16T04:22:00.000-08:00

International Furniture Brands, a retail chain for luxury home products earlier known as Hurtado, plans to open a store for the Italian furniture brand Fendi in India. The brand recently launched the Fendi Casa collection in its existing store in Delhi.

IFBrands is also looking for a tie-up with Armani Casa, another Italian brand, to open a mono store.

Samvit Tara, director, International Furniture Brands (IFBrands), told Financial Chronicle, “We are in talks with Fendi to open a mono store in India.”

IFBrands also plans to soon launch children’s furniture collections. Said Tara, “We have tied up with Young America, an American children’s furniture brand, to open concept stores here. The first store would be launched in Delhi in the next six months.”

Started in 1989, the brand represents 30 international designer furniture lines, furnishings, lighting and accessories from high-end brands including Fergson Copeland, Christopher Guy, Fendi Casa, Kenzo Maison, Donghia, Ipe Cavalli and many others. The company imports the furniture from Europe and the US.

Though it originally started with classical furniture, IFBrands now has a mix of traditional and contemporary furniture.

With a presence already in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, IFBrands plans to open stores in Hyderabad and Kolkata this year and add two more stores in north Mumbai. “We want to be present in each and every major city in India. Later on we will go to Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Ludhiana. We might also get into franchising after a year,” Tara informed. IFBrands claims it has no competitor in the market. “We represent all the top 30 global luxury brands for furniture, lighting and accessories,” said Tara.

With prices starting from Rs 50,000 and going up to Rs 25 lakh, IFBrands targets niche customers. “Our clients like to buy top-end stuff. May be we are serving only just one per cent of the market but still we count it as a big number. Our business has grown over the last four years and we hope to be doing a turnover of Rs 70-100 crore soon,” said Tara.

Source:By Manisha Yadava Feb 15 2010 , New Delhi

2000 Spa's By End Of 2010 : Get Your Pie Of The Wellness Industry

2010-02-13T03:19:00.000-08:00

The country is likely to have more than 2,000 spas by the end of 2010, up from just 200.

The wellness industry is alive and kicking in India and nothing demonstrates this better than the hyper-activity in the spa business.

Consider this: Hyderabad-based O2 Spas, which has set up shop at the Delhi and Mumbai airports, is now delivering spa therapies to offices. Weight loss and beauty specialists Vandana Luthra Curls and Curves (VLCC) is developing a residential medical spa in Gurgaon at an investment of Rs 100 crore. Delhi-based Spas India Private Limited, a subsidiary of Canadian Spas Worldwide, wants to expand from its single spa in Delhi to 10 more cities, Bangalore and Mumbai among them. First off the expansion block is Guwahati, on which Spas India is spending nearly Rs 10 crore.

Meanwhile, Vallée de Vin Private Limited, is planning a unique “wine spa” by next year. And, Bharat Hotels’ Lalit Resort and Spas in Kerala, will invest Rs 70 crore in a 40-cottage spa. Recently opened in Pune, Mumbai’s Rudra Spa, whose cash registers ring up Rs 15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh every month, has plans to expand to Mumbai’s suburbs through a franchise model.

What’s prompting all this healthy activity is sheer demand. Although there are no industry figures, it is clear that expanding incomes are encouraging affluent Indians to explore more expensive health solutions. A study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) suggests that the wellness industry is growing at close to 20 per cent annually and currently stands at Rs 1,500 crore.

According to O2’s founder and CEO, Ritesh Mastipur, India has 200 registered good-quality spas. “By the end of this year there will be 2,200 spas in India,” predicts Rajesh Sharma, president, Spas India.

O2 Spas is a case in point. Mastipur says his airport spas in Delhi and Mumbai get close to 30 customers a day. “It’s all about convenience,” he explains.

His mobile spa, which offers services to companies, is also getting a good response, says he. The companies have to tie up with the spa and Rs 2,000 is the charge per “chair” for a 10- to 15-minute treatment. O2 Mobile Spas provide basic spa services like massages such as foot reflexology, head-neck-shoulder and so on to employees at their work places.

Vallée de Vin, which recently launched its wines in the Indian market under the brand name Zampa, is looking at an early 2011 opening of its novel wine spa on top of a hill in Sanjegaon, Nasik in Maharashtra at an investment of Rs 7 crore.

Ravi Jain, director, says, “Nothing is on paper so far but we have started work on it. We have the wine so we thought why not the wine spa? Different kinds of therapies using wine will be offered to our customers.”

Given the rate at which the spa industry is expanding, the Spa Association of India is planning two academies, one each in Delhi and Guwahati, to tackle the biggest problem the industry faces today: lack of trained staff. “Ranging between six months and one year, the academies will have international and local staff,” adds Rajesh, whose spa is also the founder member of the association.

Apart from this, the association, which does not want to disclose its membership, plans to ask the government for accreditation facilities that will require all spas to be listed and certified by it based on a set of regulations. “Since skill sets is a problem, we have started hiring support staff like nurses from the health industry as that’s the closest we can get to wellness,” says Mastipur. “They are hospitable and sensitive towards others. We hire them and train them to become skilled masseuses. It is a win-win.”

Nine-year-old Lees Beauty Center and Spa in Pune, run by Leena Khandekar, has started hiring trained professionals to conduct in-house training sessions. “This is a competitive niche area where well-trained staff is important. Like guest lecturers, skilled people come over to train my staff and keep them abreast of new trends,” she says. Lees is planning to open in Mumbai soon.

Given its growth, it is natural for the industry to require IT support. India’s largest IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has plunged in with a spa management solution and brought its IT offering for players to manage spas better. Says Venguswamy Ramaswamy, SMB global head, TCS, “The wellness industry is growing at 18 per cent year on year in terms of IT spends and that’s why we have entered this sector. We have supported global ayurvedic spa chain Kairali Spas to manage their systems more efficiently. Our software helps clients store and retrieve customer data, make a pattern from customer therapy history, suggest therapies and help them come up with better promotional offers.”

Source:Pravda Godbole / Pune February 10, 2010, 0:52 IST

Retail In India:Has it Arrived.Are We Ready For The Biggies.

2010-02-10T04:23:00.000-08:00

THE EXUBERANT AGE OF RETAIL IN INDIA

Abstract

India has stepped in the exuberant age of retail. It ranks second after Russia as the most alluring destination for retailers among 30 emerging markets, according to the Global Retail Development Index developed by AT Kearney, a consultancy. The 10-12% increase in the economy’s disposable income can be seen clearly by the way goods and services are being brought and sold. Retail Trade contributes 10-11% of India’s GDP and currently employs over 4 crore people.

THE DRIVE FOR RETAIL :

The reason for the boom in retail is the gradual increase in disposable incomes of the middle and upper class household. Countries like US, Japan, U.K. have started out sourcing business activities and are willing to pay a handsome package to those who deserve. The out sourcing will create 10-24 million jobs by 2020. The Indian youth is zealous, Intelligence and has the will to work hard. This is attracted foreign business organizations in the country where by increasing the income levels and the purchasing power of consumers. The Indian consumer has a great amount of disposable income which has increased demand level of the country. This demand is accompanied by the desire to get the best quality. In India over 65% of the population is below 35 years of age and 54% are below 25 years. They have enough to pay for all their dream desires. Moreover there is a switch from joint family to nuclear family and DINK segment is making its presents felt. Driven by changing lifestyles, strong income growth and favourable demographic patterns, Indian retail is expanding at a rapid pace.

Mall space, from a meager one million square feet in 2002, is expected to touch an estimated 60 million square feet by end-2008, says Jones Lang LaSalle’s third annual Retailer Sentiment Survey-Asia.

The Indian consumer wants the best . This has increased demand for exclusive brands . Now Nike has over 100 outlets and Reebok has over 400 outlets. Thus the increase consumption pattern is having a direct bearing on the growth of retail sector. The consumption in 2005-06 was Rs. 2124000 Crore (Approximately 480 billion.)

THE INDIAN RETAILERS:

1. RPG:-It was the first to get into retail Business in India.Foodworld began as adivision of Spencer& Co., a part of RPG Group in May 1996,with supermarket in Chennai.Today Foood world is a separate company: a joint venture between Spencer & Co. and Dairy Farm international.

2. The TATA Group It has signed a joint venture for a new subsidiary, Infiniti retail, a large format multi brand chain for consumer durables. For lifestyle and the food and grocery segment, it operates through its retail arm Trent. Trent forayed into the hypermarket business with Star India Bazar.

3. Pantaloons Retail: The Company’s value retailing includes includes Big Bazar which is a hypermarket, Food Bazar which is a supermarket and Fashion Station, popular fashion stores. Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited is part of the future Group. The Future Group operates through many verticals viz Future retail, Future Capital, Future Space, Future Logistics and Future Group.

4. Vishal Retail Group: The store has spread over 25000 Sqft. It offers fashion accessories, grocery product, apparel & Electrical gadgets. The Group entered the hypermarket segment with its first such store in Udaipur.

5. Reliance Retail: It has set a revenue target by 2010-11 which is about double of the present revenues of all organized retail business in India. Reliance operates Qwik Mart, quick transaction stores offering the convenience of buying household food and non-food merchandise, music, take-away café and convenience-oriented ancillary services without a price penalty.

6. Nilgiri’s: The Company’s strategy is backward integration with an increase focus on fresh fruit and vegetables.The Nilgiris franchise also is gaining momentum and stores are being added regularly.

7. Trinethra:- It is a South based grocery chain. The stores in Kerala to have a bakery attached for which the Company has tied up with Ann’s Bakery.

A LOOK AT THE DIFFERENT RETAIL FORMATS

1.Department Store : This represents retail outlets that stocks a wide range of merchandise. Stores often provide customers with exclusive membership cards on purchases up to a certain value. The major players are Ebony, Globus, Life Style, Shoper’s Stop and Westside.

2.Super market : They are self service stores which concentrate on the prize aspect to attract customers like Food Bazaar, Subhiksha and Fab-mall. Supermarket is a self-service store offering a range of food and household articles.

3.Hyper market : It is a department store combined with super market although in India the hyper markets are not well developed still we have a few player like Reliance retail, Big Bazaar and a few more. The latest to make a big splash in the retail scene is the Aditya Birla Retail (ABRL), the retail arm of the $24-billion Aditya Birla Group, which plans to invest between Rs 250 and Rs300 crore for setting up a dozen hypermarkets under the brand name ‘More Megastore’ in the country. The hypermarkets will offer 60,000 products sourced through over 500 suppliers say company officials. The group also plans to open ‘Family Stores’ stocking apparel from Madura Garments, the owner Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England brands and also distributes the international brand Esprit in India.

4. Discount Store : It is a department store except that it sells products at a lower prize for example The Loot and US Dollar Store.

5. Specialty Store : They offer a large range of selections within a single merchandise category for example The Gold Souk in Gurgaon and the Music World and Planet M.

6. Convenience Store : The stock most essential and FMGC products like food items and several products of daily use. The major players are Red Shop and My Mart. Although world wide they are open through out the day and night but this is not so all the palyers within this format in India.

7.Kiosk : they are small retails outletswhich are open on all sides and sell consumer goods like edibles and snacks, newspapers and so on. emphasis is on designing the kiosk façade-thet sport attractrive colour schemes. Some of the players are Mr. Orange , Cookie Man, Corn Man ,Kidz on Wheelz and so on.

TIE-UPS IN RETAIL

Indian retailers are trying to tie-up with global brands through franchise and licensing agreement because they benefits both the partners. The global companies have funds expertise and goodwill while the Indian companies have the right feel of the domestic market.

India has global retail giants like Bharti-Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart’s (the world’s biggest retailer) tie up with Bharti Enterprises for cash & carry operations, seems to have encouraged French retailer Carrefour, to enter the Indian market through the wholesale route.

Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Retail is entering into talks with UK fashion retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) to float an equal joint venture for apparel, gourmet food and cafes. The gourmet food format may be integrated with Reliance Fresh wherever possible. This would help M&S attain immediate scale in food business as Reliance Fresh has 491 stores selling foods, fruits and vegetables, and may be scaled up to 1,400 stores by the end of next fiscal. Marks & Spencer is present in India through a franchisee arrangement with Planet Retail since 2001 and operates more than 20 stores in India out of its 760-strong global network. Within four months of rolling out its first store in November 2007, Reliance Retail opened 500 stores in various formats, spanning 3-million square ft of occupied space in various cities.

Home Solutions Retail India (HSRIL), a part of the Kishore Biyani-owned Future Group, will soon start retailing lightings and electrical products under the Bijli Ghar brand. This is the first time a major corporate retailer has unveiled plans to enter the unorganised Rs80,000 crore lighting market dominated by small and medium city and region-specific players across the country. The company already has a joint venture with Asian Electronics and Idiom Design & Consulting to launch the products. The lighting stores will open in 80 Big Bazaar outlets across the country and, in the next six to nine months, the company is planning of opening standalone stores, targeting revenues of Rs100 crore in the first year of operations.

FUTURE AHEAD IN RETAIL

Merrill Lynch which is a an advisory firm, expects the Indian Retail industry to grow to US$300 billion by 2010.

• Spencer’s is planning to set up 500 more stores by June 2008 with an investment of nearly US$ 125.89 million.

• Hypercity is planning to set up 250 Expresscity stores in the convenience store format across the country in the next five years.

• DLF plans to invest US$ 4.02 billion over four years to develop about 20 large shopping malls across the country.

• Israeli mall developer Plaza Center NV plans to invest US$ 1.25 billion over the next five-seven years to set up 50 malls in India.

The domestic retail sector is picking up pace with more and more Indian companies entering the sector either on their own or in alliance with foreign retailers to set up premium or niche outlets.

While Indian companies such as Bharti, Reliance Retail, Essar, Future Group, Shoppers Stop and the Aditya Birla Group are still trying to consolidate their markets, others such as Mahindra & Mahindra, realty groups like Parsvnath and DLF, two-wheeler maker Hero Honda, chemicals and foods firm Jubilant group and brokerage and realty firm Indiabulls have announced plans to enter the retail sector.

Tobacco major ITC is planning to set up more of its Wills Lifestyle, John Players and Miss Players stores across the country. The company plans to increase the number of Wills Lifestyle stores from 250 to 400 by the end of 2008-09. These stores will come up on the lines of the concept store, designed keeping cultural context and customer profile in mind.

Kishore Biyani–owned Future Group, India’s largest Retailer has planned to investRs. 3,600 crore in 100 stores in 30 cities.

ORGANISED RETAILING

According to industry estimates, the overall size of the retail sector in India is expected to touch $427 billion by 2010 and $637 billion by 2015 with the organised segment expected to account for 22 per cent by 2010. An additional 700 million Sqft of quality retail space over and above what is currently available will be required by 2011. Consulting firm Ernst & Young predicts that the organised retail market in India will touch approximately $30 billion by 2010.

Presently the share of organized retailing in India is abysmally low .The bulk of retailing is carried out by 12 m kirana which are mostly family owned. According to McKinsey, a consultancy about 96% of these kirana have 500 sq ft or less space

The advent of foreign rivals is viewed with some trepidation by India Retailers

The small retailers fear being wiped out while the large ones feel their shared eroded. It is definitely true that Foreign retailers can help improve efficiency among local organized retailers. The entry of foreign competition can lower prices. We cannot, in fact should not hurt the interest of the local retailers We need to size up the retail market into segments and then decide as to which segment can be organized and which one need to be left unorganized for the time being.

FDI in Retail will destroy employment in the kirana stores and create retail monopolies.

India has the highest shop density in the world with 11 shops per 1000 persons, much higher than European and other Asian countries.

We need to think of these small retailers before trying to enforce organized retailing in the country. The giant organized retailers may start using their monopoly and stampede the unorganized small retailers. Acceleration in organized retailing would make business unviable for the several such retailers. As there is great unemployment in the country and the small scale retailing provides livelihood security to about 20 million urban workers and 12 million rural workers, we cannot afford to put an end to it. The introduction of organized retailing would snatch the bread and butter and jeopardize the livelihoods of the millions in our country. We cannot encourage the entry of large retailers unless we have planned a livelihood for the vast majority.

KEEP THE RETAIL GOING

There is great competition in the retails sector. Thus arises the need of competent work force accompanied by Technology. Employees in the Retail Sector should be given proper training to deal with the customers. Those working in the retail sector should have a cheerful disposition because they may have to encounter short tempered customers.

• Store Employees should be empowered so that they are under no pressure to deal with the customers.

• All retailers should have consumer advisory boards.

• There should be customer research . Those employees who provide good service should be rewarded .

• Indian retails should follow the example of JC Penny whose sales associates give questionnaires to shoppers which are later analyzed to improve service.

• Retailers should always be ready to devise innovative ways to over come the problems of customize.

• Retails brands get built by developing personal relationship with consumer the important and frequent customers should be recognized and should be given free gifts and guaranties.

• The retailer should be able to display their product very beautifully in order to attract the side of the customer.

The Indian retails sector is in a state of evolution. The Indian retailers should understand that retailing has to be taken as a brand in a self. More than 99% of the Indian retailers function in less than 500 Sqft of shopping space. It is a challenge for the Indian Retails Industry to create a scenario making job exciting to the younger generation so as the attract them. It is difficult but not impossible to satisfy the culturally diverse consumers of the country.

CONCLUSION:-

India is an enormous market, of which we are seeing only the tip of the iceberg. If the changes which are taking place in the metros retail start to percolate in the all the urban settlements then there will be a real revolution in the Indian Retail. Indian Retail market is worth a mammoth 350 billion dollars. Such is the underlying potential for Retail trading in the country.

A single large retailer should not be allowed to capture the large market share. The Indian Government should not make haste in inviting the foreign retailers instead it should wait to see the great power of the Indian retailers. Indian retailers have to learn both the art and science of retailing by looking at the way the giant retailers are organizing and managing their activities . Indian retailer needs to be innovative and needs to understand the regional variations in consumer tastes

We Indians can celebrate our spending power and also channelise our spending towards healthy consumption for overall development of the country.

REFERENCES:-

Books:-

• Retailing Management,5th Edition, Michael Levy and Barton A Weitz, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company

• Retail Management – A Strategic Approach ,9th Edition, Berry Berman and Joel R. Evans, Prentice Hall

Links:-

• www.imagesretail.com

• www.indiaretailforum.in

• www.retailindia.typepad

• www.ibef.org

Source:*Rizwana Atiq – Lecturer,Department of Business Administration, Integral University, Lucknow

Lifestyle Retail Franchise

2008-09-08T08:13:00.000-07:00

Lifestyle Retail Franchise: Questions From an India Perspective

Over the last 2 months we have been working with 3 different clients in the lifestyle retailing space and could categorize them in these categories:

Company 1: Art, Craft & Handicraft from some of the finest Indian artisans put into a store delivering a complete ‘India’ experience within a store.

Company 2: World Class European Shoes for the upwardly mobile Indian male and female.

Company 3:Home Décor imported from some of the best companies across the globe and presented in a store for the Indian consumer who’d rather pick it up here at a price lower than what he picks up anywhere else across the globe.

All these companies were seeking expansion and were contemplating whether franchising could be the solution to their success. The following were typically the challenges faced by them and the solutions to the questions below were concluded whilst we embarked upon getting them started with franchising:

What Should The Ideal Franchisee Profile Be:

a) Should he/she work full time at the store and be committed to the store.

b) What do you do to the franchisee that owns a great property and is seeking a minimum guarantee? How much will they be committed to the store?

c) What do you do with investors who see the return on investments on the store and are purely looking at it from a financial angle? Should they be approved? Can they be ignored?

d) What kind of skills & background is an essential and are these kinds of people available practically?

e) What should be the screening process applied and how should the application forms and other negotiation process with intending franchisees made?

f) What should be done with franchisees seeking more than 1 franchisee and seeking exclusivities on entire regions?

Location & Price:

a) Should the store be in a Mall or a High Street?

b) If it is a mall, how do you identify which one, as there is one being constructed round the corner everywhere? The good malls already are full and don’t have space, the ones that are being made are going to be ready from a few months to a few years and how does one choose whether this one is right and this one is not?

c) Everybody seem to be asking prices that do not seem right…. with these rentals how does one keep the price of the product right and yet keep everyone happy that is the customer, the franchisee and off course make a profit.

d) What is the ideal lock in period? What are the ideal escalations & CAM charges? Renewals?

e) Who pays the rentals and who signs the agreement? The franchisor or the franchisee. What if the rentals are not paid on time? What happens if the franchisee fails in his obligations? How can the company ensure that operations are not effected despite anything happening with the franchisee?

f) Within what distance should the next store come up? What do you do on exclusivities of locations?

g) What is the ideal size of the store and what do I do with stores that could be smaller or bigger than the ideal size, but whose locations are ideal?

h) Can I work with similar brands and share bigger spaces with them?

Franchise Fees, Deposits, Royalties, Prices, Goods & Margins:

a) What should be the ideal franchise fee & thereafter royalty be.

b) Should there be a uniform pricing across the country. What about prices in the same geographies where the rentals could be 500 Rs/sft and 50 Rs/Sft.

c) Who bears the taxes?

d) What happens if goods are not sold?

e) Discount sales, promotional offers and other activities to sell unsold goods.

f) How often is the stock replenished and at what costs if quantities are low.

g) Who bears damages at the store.

h) How much deposit should be taken from the franchisee and for what.

i) What is the credit limit a franchisee gets.

j) What is the optimum stock level a franchisee has to maintain?

k) What about deferred payments on stocks, franchise fees etc?

Staff:

a) How do you ensure that the product is communicated properly to the consumer with the staff available, with their turn around time, with their commitment to the store?

b) What is the ideal training programme and how often should this be done. How do you keep updating the staff with the new products and developments?

c) What role does the training manual play?

d) How do you keep the staff motivated? How do you incentives them. How do you measure their performance?

e) Who should pay the staff…. the franchisor or the franchisee and what are the repercussions

f) What should be the reporting methods?

Marketing & Advertisement:

a) What is the ideal marketing contribution that the franchisee and the franchisor make respectively?

b) Who is responsible to bring the customer to the doorstep and who for conversion after that?

c) In store promotions and other events

d) Newspaper, TV and other media advertisements.

Back End Preparedness:

a) What are the systems the franchisor must develop to ensure the smooth functioning of the franchise? The operations manual functionality.

b) What are the continuous training and support functions that the franchisor and franchisee comply to?

c) Initial launch and start phase support mechanism.

d) Daily reporting support and response to those reports with clear people assigned on the backend with each of their roles and responsibility defined

e) Continuous Product Development and Supply chain mechanism issues to be addressed?

Franchise Recruitment, Marketing, Location Visits and Agreement Signups

a) What mediums should I use to get to the ideal franchisee?

b) Will franchise magazines and expo’s work for our kind of business.

c) Which newspapers and media’s should I utilize?

d) Should we use the Internet franchise portals? Are they effective?

e) How much should I invest in either of the above and what is the quality of response?

f) Which mediums to be used on TV.

g) Who inspects the locations when a franchisee says I have a location and want you to see it?

h) What are the different stages of discussion one goes through and how long does it take for a sign up?

And a host of other questions that were answered whilst every industry within this domain was looked at microscopically and what every possible solution would result in terms of creating a healthy franchise system.

From The Desk Of Amit Nahar

Founder & CEO of Sparkleminds Franchise Catalysts –A Franchise Consulting Company Specializing in Franchising Solutions for Companies Seeking Franchise Growth and Entrepreneurs seeking New Businesses.

You could reach him on naharamit@gmail.com or on +9180-41512345for comments on this article.